Controversy in Bolivia: teachers refuse the insertion of an “ideologized” text in schools on the 2019 crisis

The 2019 political crisis in Bolivia which left 37 dead, Was it a coup riot or a popular rebellion against electoral fraud? The controversy landed in schools with a textbook that talks about a coup and that triggered rejection from teachers and opponents.

“We are not here to indoctrinate or ideologize”said teachers in the public who were threatening to return to the streets this week to reject “the new curriculum imposed by the Ministry of Education”, according to the union leader, Jose Luis Alvarez.

“It is not indoctrination, it is part of our history and the teacher must be ready to share with his students a critical analysis of reality”, replied the Deputy Minister of Education, Bartolome Puma.

The National Council for the Defense of Democracy (CONADE) – which brings together citizens’ organizations of the opposition – added another lawsuit against the President’s government Luis Arce and rejected the attempt to install in the classroom “a false coup theory in favor of Evo Morales”, the former president and leader of the ruling party.

The 2019 elections were denounced as fraudulent by the observation mission of the Organization of American States (OAS). Morales, who was seeking a fourth consecutive term, resigned due to unrest across the country and the opposition senator Jeanine Anez He assumed the government and a year later he called for elections which were won by Arce, Morales’ political heir.

With the return to government of the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), the Morales party, More than a hundred political and social leaders who encouraged the protests have been brought to justice, starting with Áñez, who is serving a 10-year sentence for those episodes and faces further trials. The opposition has denounced political persecution with the support of judges affiliated with the government and assures that there are political persecutors in the country. Pro-government supporters say they are seeking justice for the coup promoters.

The issue keeps the country sharply polarized, especially since the prosecution has acquitted Morales and his former aides of any investigation. According to analysts, this is the problem that causes the most instability.

The text in question will be taught this year in the last course of secondary school and says: “An army officer puts the self-proclaimed Áñez in the presidential sash in a clear symbolic display of the coup that was unfolding.”

The Education Ministry said on Monday that the new textbooks would be distributed to schools this week.

Last week, mobilizations also took place in several of the main cities of the country, such as Santa Cruz, the largest Bolivian region, La Paz, seat of government and parliament, Cochabamba, Oruro and Sucre, the constitutional capital of the country. , as well as some parent organizations with reviews of the content and conditions of its application.

During the demonstrations, several of the banners questioned the work of the Minister of Education, Edgar Parydue to the process in which he assured that it was “agreed” with different sectors, and the qualifiers to the new curriculum of “pachamamista”, in relation to the indigenist orientation that characterizes the government.

(With information from AP and EFE)

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